Basic Tricks
Avoiding Slopes Just about every slope is slower to run across than flat terrain. For this reason, it is always preferable to jump over slopes than to walk across them. If a slope is unavoidable, the slowdown can often be minimized by jumping immediately, as in a perfect jump. Extended Flutter An extended flutter is performed when Yoshi bounces on an enemy, and is able to flutter much higher than normal. There are three ways to maximize the height gained from an extended flutter: *Hold jump in advance before bouncing on the enemy (Not holding jump results in a much smaller bounce). *Release jump and manually initiate the flutter around the apex of the jump, rather than just holding down jump and waiting for it to automatically flutter. *Follow the big flutter up with a second perfect flutter. Extended flutters are used in many levels to reach otherwise unreachable locations. For example, in 1-1 to skip the beanstalk, or 6-4 to travel over the stone column, skipping the need for a key. 'Video: '''6-4 key skip This video demonstrates an extended flutter, followed by a perfect flutter as part of the route in 6-4. Tonguing Using Yoshi's tongue normally slows Yoshi down. This can be avoided by doing two things: *Only tongue in the air *Release all directions after initiating the tongue You can resume directional inputs after the tongue animation is almost fully retracted back into Yoshi's mouth. Continuing to hold down forward while tonguing reduces Yoshi's speed by 1/2. Holding Y longer makes Yoshi's tounge longer. 'Video: Tonguing The first 4 tongues are done holding down forward the whole time. The rest of the level demonstrates tonguing while releasing the dpad. Making Eggs If Yoshi swallows an enemy on the ground, his speed immediately drops to zero. Therefore, all eggs should be made in the air whenever possible. However, as with tonguing, holding down any direction on the dpad while the egg-making animation is playing causes Yoshi to slow down to half speed. Therefore, the optimal way to make eggs is to: 1) Tongue an enemy 2) While traveling at max speed, jump 3) As quickly as possible after jumping, remove your thumb from forward, and tap down for as little time as possible 4) Continue holding jump such that you do not land until the egg swallowing animation is finished (you should not be pushing any directional buttons at all). 5) Return thumb to pushing down forward when the egg animation ends. '''Video: Making Eggs In this video, the first egg is eaten on the ground resulting in a complete stop. Then, 4 eggs are eaten while holding forward. As can be seen, Yoshi's speed is drastically reduced. Finally, the last 3 eggs are eaten using the method described above, where the dpad is released during the swallowing animation. Full speed is retained using this method. Ground Pound A Groundpound causes Yoshi to fall 2 times faster than normal, however starting the groundpound takes 23 frames. Landing animation takes 7 frames. If you have to groundpound anyways, just try to do it as soon as possible to save time. Groundpounding into pipes/teleporters/doors can skip the landing animation. So basically you have to fall (regular freefall) over 42 frames or ~168 pixels for it to actually save time. Groundpounding clears all velocity, acceleration when landing is not included in this calculation. Category:Speedrunning Information